A World of Differences
by inkwolf222
Summary: They always say it's the quiet ones you have to look out for, after date night the Kids finally learn this first-hand. Part One of the Tam-Tam series


Constance rolled over to check her phone for what felt like the millionth time that night. The loud moaning still coming from upstairs keeping her awake. She sighed as her phone read 03:12AM.

"You can't sleep either?" Amita's voice floated over from her side of the room.

They had agreed to bunk together when Tammy and her kids permanently moved into the loft after she and Eric decided to get divorced. They had parted on amicable terms and this weekend Keri and Dereck were with their dad. Constance couldn't help but feel grateful they weren't in the loft tonight.

She sighed again. "No. Mom and Dad are really going at it tonight, huh?"

Amita just nodded even though Constance couldn't see her. The last time Debbie and Lou had made this much noise was after they had fenced all the stolen jewellery from the royal families. By that time, the Toussaint heist was old news, Claude Becker had been tried and prosecuted and all the girls decided to permanently move into the loft.

The only person capable of looking either of them in the eye the next morning was Tammy and that was only because she'd known them the longest, or so they all assumed. Even Daphne had blushed like a schoolgirl when they came strolling out of their room for breakfast.

She had just rolled over to ask Constance if she wanted to watch a movie to drown out the noise when she realised the loft was finally blessedly silent.

"You think they're done?" she asked the young Asian woman.

"Hopefully. Remind me to go back to my apartment when Mom and Dad have date night again." She quipped tiredly.

Amita chuckled. "Only if I can crash there too."

XXX

The next morning found both Constance and Amita sitting at the kitchen table, sipping coffee at an ungodly hour. Even though things had finally quietened down, neither woman could fall asleep. As they were quietly talking they heard a noise from upstairs followed by Tammy coming down the stairs and walking into the kitchen fully dressed and wide awake.

"Hey guys." She greeted getting only mumbled responses as she made her own cup of coffee. Amita envied her ability to function perfectly so early in the mornings, though she supposed having two young kids didn't leave much room for sleeping in. Even though the blonde's outfit of mom-jeans, boots and a conservative button-up and sweater combo wasn't really her style, Amita couldn't find a hair out of place. _The suburbs must have really high standards if you have to look like that before 7 each day, _she thought. _No wonder she's so stressed all the time._

"What are you guys doing up before 8 o'clock on a Saturday?" Amita was pulled out of her reverie by the question. Before either she or Constance could answer, Daphne and Rose both stumbled out of their room and into the kitchen looking sleep-deprived and dishevelled, still wearing their pyjamas much like Constance and Amita.

The four of them gave each other commiserating looks.

Daphne groaned, nearly falling face-first into the coffee Tammy placed in front of her.

"Didn't get much sleep, huh?" Tammy looked at the actress sympathetically. The doe-eyed brunette merely gave her a death-glare.

"Did you?" she snarled, taking a huge gulp of her coffee, mumbling a thanks to the blonde for the caffeine. Tammy just smiled at the grumpy brunette as she leaned her head on Rose's shoulder. She thought the two made a cute couple.

"Well, not really, but Nine and I got home pretty late from our date. It was our three month anniversary you know."

The others couldn't help but crack a tiny smile at her enthusiasm. While they made an odd pair at first sight, Tammy and Nine Ball clicked on a level that almost rivalled Lou and Debbie. And while they were taking things slow, it was obvious how happy they made one another. Tammy had gotten Nine Ball to open up more, to share in the group and realise they weren't going to disappear on her and Veronica like all their other so-called family. They hacker in return had gotten the blonde to relax a bit. Sure she was still tightly wound but she didn't freak out over the tiniest thing anymore. They haven't seen her this relaxed since the Toussaint heist.

A loud commotion outside the front door drew the group's attention as Debbie and Lou stumbled in laughing and tripping over their own feet, high on champagne and thievery, still dressed in yesterday's clothes. Luckily for Tammy, her phone decided to start ringing at that precise moment, giving her a much needed escape from the tension that suddenly filled the kitchen. She slipped out onto the balcony to answer it and find out when Eric wanted her to pick up the kids.

The ringing of the phone finally caught the attention of the giggling pair of grifters and made them aware of four very angry faces staring at them.

"Geez guys, who rained on your parade?" Lou tried to break the ice, her accent more prominent after a night of drinking and no sleep.

"Absolutely nobody." Came Daphne's curt reply but before Lou or Debbie could interject, she continued. "You see, we all would've known if it had been raining, seeing as _some people _decided to keep us up all night." She looked pointedly at the pair.

Confusion etched on their faces, Debbie and Lou looked at each of the other women individually before looking back at it one another.

"I don't know why you guys are blaming us," Debbie ventured. "We didn't even come home last night."

"Yeah, no we didn't." Lou nodded her confirmation. "Deb and I spent the night in Atlantic City. We're still wearing last night's clothes."

Motioning up and down their bodies, the others realised they were in fact still wearing yesterday's clothes.

Just then a loud thump and drawn out groan could be heard from upstairs. A series of slower, softer thumps move along the floor to the stairwell where they slow down to a near crawl. They watch as Nine Ball slowly descend the stairs, lacking all of her usual grace. All thoughts of berating and confusion instantly flee their minds as Constance, Rose, Amita and Daphne direct their concern to the young hacker.

"Are you alright?" Rose asks softly in her lilting Irish accent.

Nine Ball just nods as she slowly moves towards the table, wincing as she finally eases into one of the comfy chairs. Her silence and near catatonia had the others even more concerned. Except Lou and Debbie who were smirking at one another. They knew exactly why she looked so shell-shocked.

"Had fun?" Lou asked, mirth obvious and smirk still firmly in place. The hacker just nods her head. Debbie could barely manage to keep her laughter at bay.

"Good?" at the brunette's question, Nine Ball's head shoots up to look at her.

"I had no idea." Came the near whisper. Her eyes glaze over for a second before focusing back on Lou and Debbie.

"You didn't warn me."

"Would you have believed us if we did?"

Looking more confused by the second, Rose finally pipes up.

"What are you guys on about?"

"Nine Ball just discovered the difference between 'Tammy' and 'Tam-Tam'." Lou answered with a grin.

"I know you two use it as a nickname," Constance voiced. "But there's a difference?"

"Oh boy, yes." Nine Ball nodded her head emphatically. "A whole universe's worth of differences."

Tammy enters into the kitchen just as she ended the call. The look on her face as she spots her girlfriend sitting at the table could only be described as downright sinful.

The other four can only gape at her, looking between the two of them. Finally, Amita can't keep quiet anymore.

"Wait! That was _you two_ last night?! Geez Tam, you're loud." Still looking like a couple of goldfish, the others just nod along.

The blonde sends her lover a little wink that makes her blush to the tips of her ears before turning to Amita with an evil little grin.

"I wasn't the one screaming last night."

With that she struts past the gaping table, gives Nine Ball a toe-curling kiss and throws a smile over her shoulder at a still smirking Lou and Debbie, before grabbing her keys and disappearing out the front door. Gaping at the door a disbelieving squeak escapes Amita's throat.

Daphne turns to the hacker.

"Nine?" she questions softly, grabbing everyone's attention. She quirks an eyebrow at the Bajan, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at the front door, asking her friend a silent question.

Looking at the front door again, she turns her gaze back to the brunette. Slowly nodding her head she answers the question.

"Hellcat."


End file.
